Bottle ID: 00063

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REALGAR, IMITATION, CARVED W/CARP

Date: 1750-1850

Height: 64 mm

Glass, of ovoid form imitating realgar, carved in red on a swirly orange ground with a carp plunging amidst frothy waves which encircle the base of the bottle, the carp's head appearing on one side of the bottle pursuing a pearl, the lower half of the fish on the reverse side, the shoulders carved with mock mask and ring handles.

Attributed to Beijing.

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 673.
Sotheby's, New York, April 1, 2005, lot 359, Collection of Avrina Pugh.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle - The J & J Collection, 1993, Vol. II, p. 636, no. 387.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Richard A. Bourne Co. Inc. Massachusetts, December 14, 1988, lot 139
Mrs. J. Gerald Mayer

Exhibited:

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007

This is an extraordinarily bold realgar glass bottle, carved to show the subject of the carp leaping from the waves as it becomes a dragon. Legend tells that the Yellow River carp that succeeds in leaping the Longmen (Dragon Gate) Rapids will become a dragon. It has been suggested that the carved bubbles on this bottle could double as the pearls the dragon-carp is searching for. This bottle leaves us in no doubt of this, for the carp is clearly in pursuit of a pearl between its two whiskers. This motif represents the wish for advancement or promotion in one's career and would be a suitable gift for a Court official. Glass bottles imitating realgar were amongst the earliest groups of bottles made in the Palace Workshops. It is not, however, clear whether these bottles were carved at the same time that they were made or whether they were carved up to a century later. This subject has been used both in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries on both monochrome and overlay glass, although rarely on 'realgar' glass. As the same technique would have been used to carve this bottle as a more traditional type of overlay glass, the bottle, in effect, becomes an overlay glass snuff bottle.

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